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The first two parts of this book have focused entirely on Lindy Hop, from the narrow perspective of how to perform the moves of the dance. This third part of the book expands this focus to encompass the relationship between Lindy Hop and other things—the music, the environment in which the dance is learnt, and the other dance forms that interact with Lindy Hop. The last of these forms the majority of this part, where we cover a number of dances that are related to the Lindy Hop. They are all part of the swing dance family tree: some are precursors of the Lindy Hop, some are parallel evolutions to the Lindy Hop, and many are direct descendents of the Lindy Hop. These inter-relationships either mean that the dances in this chapter can be intermingled with Lindy Hop while dancing to the same music (Charleston, Balboa, St Louis Shag), or mean that a Lindy Hop dancer might well be able to dance with someone who specializes in the related dance (West Coast Swing, Boogie-Woogie, Modern Jive). The close relationship also means that these dances are ripe for cross-fertilizations with Lindy Hop. Adapting moves, variations and styles between dances adds variety and helps to keep the dances alive. However, this does involve a danger that each dance's distinct individual character becomes eroded; it would be a shame if the splendid variety of swing dances converged into a common mélange. |
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